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Serbia Today 96-09-06Serbia Today Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: Yugoslavia <http://www.yugoslavia.com>Serbia Today6 September 1996CONTENTS
[01] THE FOURTH ROUND OF NEGOTIATIONS ON SUCCESSION COMPLETEDThe fourth round of negotiations on succession, concluded last night in Brussels, has been defined "very comprehensive" by the head of the Yugoslav delegation - Academician Kosta Mihajlovic. The main topic of the talks was the Memorandum prepared by Sir Arthur Watts - head of the international negotiating team of the Office of the High Representative of the international community. The answer of the Yugoslav side to the proposal has been previously made public. Sir Watts made it immediately clear that his document is not final and the debate concerned the important point of the Memorandum - said Mr. Mihajlovic. (Politika, September 6, 1996)[02] MAJOR PROSPECTIVE TO NORMALIZE THE YUGOSLAV IMF MEMBERSHIPFederal Minister of Finances - Mr. Tomica Raicevic stated in Washington that there are great chances of normalizing the Yugoslav membership in the International Monetary Fund. Mr. Raicevic is heading the Yugoslav Government delegation in the new round of talks with high IMF officials on the normalization of Yugoslav membership in this international financial organization. "I think we can say that the talks are proceeding in a favorable atmosphere and that there are good chances of normalizing our status in the IMF", Mr. Raicevic said. (Borba, September 6, 1996)[03] A NEW ERA IN KOSOVO HAS STARTEDThe agreement signed by Serbian President Milosevic and Dr. Ibrahim Rugova on the normalization of the schooling system for ethnic Albanian children and youths in Kosovo and Metohija, continues to cause positive reactions of the political organizations and public opinion in the country. The ethnic Albanian population in Kosovo expresses support for the agreement, and it is now visible that Albanian political groups and other organizations have reduced their anti-Serbian terminology after the signing of the document. Mr. Vahid Ibro - Chairman of the Socialist Party branch in the Prizren County stated that the document removes one of the obstacles for the stabilization of the situation in Kosovo and Metohija, and added that the Serbian authorities reaffirmed the fact "that the world didn't want to see or ignored deliberately - namely that all the minorities in Serbia enjoy equal rights. The Vice President of the Yugoslav Left Party - Mr. Aleksandar Vulin remarked that the signing of the agreement "marks the beginning of a new era of relations in Kosovo." "Obviously, Rugova was compelled to abandon his isolationist policy, because the Albanian people could not bear it any longer", said Vulin. New Democracy Chairman Cedomir Mirkovic said that after this agreement it should be expected that the Albanian minority will start taking part in other aspects of normal social life in the province of Kosovo and Metohija. "The idea of a long term parallel society was senseless and the cynicism of it al is that the victims were children who had nothing to say about it." - said Mr. Mirkovic. (TANJUG, September 6, 1996)[04] PREPARATIONS FOR THE DEMOCRATIC TEST OF THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF SERBIA"Serious work awaits the Serbian Socialist Party for the forthcoming elections campaign. On November 3rd we will try to verify our work with the voters in Serbia and Yugoslavia", said Ms. Gorica Gajevic, Secretary General of the Socialist Party of Serbia at a meeting in New Belgrade. We have behind us a triumph of peace, suspended and soon abolished sanctions, persistent and wise policy that managed to protect the national and civil rights of the Serbian people in the Republic of Srpska. The people of Serbia and Yugoslavia know very well whose merit is this, said Ms. Gajevic. The SPS official also indicated that the Socialists see Yugoslavia and Serbia as a modern, democratic, developed society with a modified economic structure favoring a finalized and profitable production. According to the Socialists' project, in the year 200, Serbia and Yugoslavia will have all the prerequisites to take their rightful place alongside the developed European countries. (Vecernje Novosti, September 6, 1996)[05] AGRICULTURE - THE GREAT PROSPECTIVE OF OUR NATIONAL ECONOMYMr. Bosko Perosevic - Chairman of the Vojvodina Province Executive Council stated in Novi Sad that science and knowledge are the greatest potential our agriculture has, and that agricultural production is the greatest prospective for the national economic policy. Mr. Perosevic made this statement at the conference "Days of Maize and Soya" organized by the Novi Sad Institute for Vegetables and rallying numerous experts from FRY, Russia, Ukraine, Greece and Hungary. The venue reiterated the major achievements made by the Institute: four new hybrids of maize have been added to the EU list, and in the past several years the Institute Soya Dept. created 44 new species of soya, two of which have been granted international recognition. (Politika, September 6, 1996)[06] THE HAGUE DOES NOT SEE ITS OWN CRIMINALSWhilst the Hague Tribunal is prosecuting Dusko Tadic and insisting on the extradition of Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, Dutch "dogs of war" are living freely in Holland even though detailed dossiers on their crimes in Krajina have been submitted to the International Criminal COurt for Crimes of War in former Yugoslavia. Evidence charging 13 Dutchmen who were mercenaries in the Croatian Army, has been submitted to the Hague Tribunal over half a year ago. Recently the reporter of the Dutch newspaper "Dretzc Chroningen Dagblat", Mr. Rob Sibeling, visited Belgrade pursuing his investigation of Johannes Todler - a mercenary from Assen. During the interrogation in Knin, Tilder confessed horrible crimes against Serbs in Krajina, and then committed suicide in jail. "I have discovered that together thirteen other Dutchmen took part in the atrocities along with Tilder" Sibeling says. Tilder's story is truly horrible: captured Serbian civilians and soldiers were skinned alive, poured with boiling water, their limbs were chopped off, and slaughter was the easiest death. "Dogs of war", as members of Croatian units, committed most of the crimes in the zone of "Medak pocket", where 100 civilians and soldier were executed. There were no wounded in the operation. As a dedicated journalist, Sibeling promised to investigate where do now live the Dutch mercenaries that went to Croatia with the help of the Ustashi organization "Help to Croatia". The investigation has shown that most of the mercenaries survived and returned to Holland. For example Heng Yeling, owner of a company in Croatia and married to a Croatian woman, now lives in Holland and grows tulips. (Vecernje Novosti, September 6, 1996)[07] NASER ORIC IN MAHALA INSTEAD OF THE HAGUEInternational Police representatives in Zvornik revealed several days ago that armed Moslem groups in the villages of Mahala and Dugi Do (near Zvornik) are led by Naser Oric, former commander of Moslem troops in Srebrenica. The infiltration of Moslem groups in these villages on Republic of Srpska territory, threatened to turn into a major incident. After the withdrawal of the Serbian Police, IFOR troops inspected the villages, and discovered that Moslem "civilians" had "long muzzles", and then revealed that their leader is Naser Oric. The Republic of Srpska authorities placed Oric on the war-criminal list a long time ago, and at the time of the Dayton summit, Reuters reported that the indictment will probably be raised against Oric - the military commander of the Moslem enclave of Srebrenica. However, the Hague Tribunal did not react, and after the Bosnian Serb troops entered Srebrenica, Naser Oric's name was no longer mentioned publicly until several days ago when he appeared with a group of armed Moslems in the village of Mahala. The Republic of Srpska authorities accused Oric of numerous crimes and atrocities against civilians in the vicinity of Srebrenica, Kravice, Bratunac, and Skelani. Accusations were even raised by Moslems from Srebrenica, where Oric ruled as a tyrant. (Politika, September 6, 1996)[08] MAHALE - MORE THAN JUST AN INCIDENTAlthough the situation regarding Mahale - a village in the border zone of the Republic of Srpska is settling down, all that happened there can hardly be qualified as a minor incident that can be forgotten. At the meetings of the Peace and Progress League, it has been pointed out that mahale are just another premeditated incident, designed to undermine peace in former Bosnia and Herzegovina. "Mahale represent just a continuation of the SDA manipulations intended to postpone the elections. Such operations threaten not only Zvornik, but the entire Republic of Srpska, said Jovan Radic , Chairman of the Peace and Progress League for Zvornik. "We are witnessing an attempt of the Moslems to provoke incidents that would postpone elections. We knew they would do that, since we have information that they prepared similar actions in the zones of Prijedor, Brcko and Doboj", said Prof. Dr. Branko Dokic, heading the list for deputies in the House of Representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina. (Politika, September 6, 1996)[09] "LE MONDE" CRITICIZES THE DEMOCRATIC ACTION PARTYThe Paris newspaper Le Monde harshly criticized Alija Izetbegovic for his plans to create "Moslem Bosnia". In a comprehensive analysis of the forthcoming elections the French magazine warns against the aggressive campaign staged by Izetbegovic's Democratic Action Party (SDA), indicating that it represents a classical "nationalistic movement". "Le Monde" particularly criticizes the party for using all available means, including harassment and intimidation. Izetbegovic stands behind the "hard liners" among the Moslem nationalists that intend to preserve the hegemonic SDA rule and therefore call all opposition leaders "enemies of Bosnia". (Ekspres, September 6, 1996)[10] SPECIAL BULLETIN SUPPLEMENT: "WHO ARE BOSNIANS?"The term Bosnians - used as a neologism - has existed for centuries as a domicile and geographic determination for the people living in this zone of the Balkans. However, no historical texts,dictionaries or other relevant sources qualify Bosnians as a specific population group, probably because the state of Bosnia never existed as an independent state. Undeniable documents regarding the population of the region dating back to the period of Turkish rule (15th - 19th century) or Austrian Hungarian occupation (1878-1918), as well as those from the Yugoslav period, indicate that the population of Bosnia comprises primarily Serbs (Orthodox), Islamized parts of south Slav tribes, Croats (Catholics) and several minority groups (Jews, Czechs etc.)The term Bosnian (Bosnjak), as a term designating all the people of Bosnia has been used for the first time during the Austrian-Hungarian occupation, and represents an attempt to create a sort of special nation with the prime objective to find justifications (through alleged peculiarity) for the occupation of territories whose population strives to become united with Serbia. The term Bosnian reappeared recently for the same reason, but this time the controversial peculiarity (territorial and above all national) served as a basis for secession and the creation of sovereign Moslem authority. The most expressive example of the attempt to strategically cloak such Islamist-fundamentalist tendencies of the Sarajevo ruling clique, is embodied by the introduction and abuse of the term "Bosnians", after decades of efforts to affirm the idea that Moslems are both a religious and a national community. During the existence of the former Yugoslav federation existed, Bosnia and Herzegovina figured as the only federal entity without a dominant national characteristic. According to the censuses, Serbs were the relative majority of its population, until - back in the 60's and 70's the highest Communist party officials (Tito and Kardelj) proclaimed the need to grant the status of nation to the Moslems in Bosnia and Herzegovina, thus suddenly transforming a religion into a nationality - something that had no precedents in the world. When the wave of Homeini-inspired pan-Islamism hit Europe, the first significant echo came in the shape of a political manifest published in Sarajevo by Alija Izetbegovic and Omer Behmen (later ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Iran), with the advice and material help of the ayatollah - confirmed during the trial. At the time, the rejected the suggestions made by a number of Moslem intellectuals to renounce to the promotion of Moslem "nationality" for strategic reasons, and to use the term "Bosnians instead. When the civil war broke out in Bosnia and Herzegovina, foreign "mentors" of Izetbegovic's secessionism wanted to prove that Serbian aggression on Bosnia was involved. For propaganda purposes, Izetbegovic and his Mujahedin supporters adopted the term "Bosnians" because it alleviates the efforts to promote the affirmations that Serbs are foreign aggressors, and "Bosnians" are the only autochthonous population. Still the truth has slowly seeped through the seams in spite of "PR" manipulations. The elections campaign staged by Izetbegovic's SDA, the slogan appearing on posters (prevalently Islamic green) is "With our Faith, in our Country". The New York Times correspondent reported on September 2, that the Izetbegovic's electoral rally held in one of the suburbs of Sarajevo included cheering to Allah, quotes from the Koran, threats to the Republic of Srpska "that has to be destroyed". On the stage only one foreign ambassador was present - naturally the Iranian ambassador. Insisting on the term "Bosnian" can only indicate the continuation of the same policy designed to promote the domination over the other two nations in Bosnia, and the continuation of the aggressive policy that prompted the war in Bosnia. After Iranian arms, equipment and Mujahedins, cannons, tanks and armored vehicles "Made in USA" are now being sent there. D. Milic, politcal analyst Serbia Today Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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